0810993147 Hardcover with Dust Jacket. Good. Light to moderate wear to covers/corners. 1st edition, 1st printing with full number line. Support Last Word Books & Press and independent booksellers.

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This truly gothic talea facsimile of Weeds journal found at Alnwick Castle, in Englandis not only a story of the battle between good and evil, but an educational parable of the curative and lethal properties of plants. Weedan orphan boy who apprentices with an evil old apothecaryis both used and abused. His journal is part botanical workbook and part diary of his own relationship with poisonous plants. Weed discovers that he is one of the few people whom the plants talk to, and they try to persuade him that, with their help, his master can easily be disposed of. Although he refuses at first, after Weeds first love, Marigold, experiments with the poisons and dies, he is pushed over the edge and plots to kill his master with a taste of his own evil medicine. Each chapter of the story begins with Weeds botanical notes: a plants appearance and properties, where it is found, how it should be cared for, the most poisonous parts, and how poison is extracted and administered. Accompanied by Weeds sketches of the plants in their natural form, his diary also reveals the real personalities of the plants.